marion cotillard

Did you watch the 70th annual Golden Globes? Expectations were high for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s first hosting attempt, and boy did they deliver. I had a few people over for a potluck viewing party and we found ourselves laughing throughout the three-hour ceremony. Hopefully, this is the dawn of a new era. Fingers crossed that the duo emcee the event again next year. It definitely didn’t drag with them on deck.

Equally as impressive, were the ladies on the red carpet. There were barely any fashion trainwrecks this year which is a shame since it’s fun to mock bad choices. If there was a common theme this year, it was to go simple and understated. Another big trend was long sleeves. A few ladies really worked this to perfection. Check out my Top 10 picks for best dresses at the 2013 Golden Globes below.

Can you tell we’re in the heart of awards season? On Wednesday, the People’s Choice Awards took place. On Thursday, the Oscar nominations were announced and this Sunday it’s theGolden Globes turn to take front and center. Sandwiched in between all that action were the 18th Critics’ Choice Awards.

Ben Affleck experienced heartbreak earlier in the day when the Academy snubbed him for Best Director, despite Argo earning seven Oscar nominations. What a difference a few hours make, the 40-year-old walked away with Best Directing honors from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and Best Picture for Argo. This was Affleck’s Oscars. Clearly, the Academy is still punishing him for Gigli ;)

The big winner of the night was Silver Linings Playbook scoring Best Comedy Movie, Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy and Best Ensemble. The film’s female lead Jennifer Lawrence also nabbed a win for her role inThe Hunger Games to match her Silver Linings Playbook Best Actress statue. Not only was Lawrence the critics’ darling, but she also wowed fashinistas everywhere. After a ho-hum fashion showing at the People’s Choice, girl revved it up for the Critics’ Choice. Hands down the best dressed. Check out other noteworthy fashion statements below.

The BAFTAs aka British Academy Film Awards really don’t factor too much in the Oscar race. It’s just another excuse to dress up and publicly campaign for your chances at securing an Academy Award. That being said, their nominations fall mostly in line with many of the Oscar precursors. Even across the pond, Steven Spielberg’s film about an American president is the one to beat. Lincoln dominated with 10 nominations. The historical drama secured nods for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress to name a few.

The musical Les Miserables and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi came in second with 9 nominations a piece. The 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise, Skyfall, picked up 8 BAFTAs including nods for Javier Bardem and Dame Judi Dench in the supporting acting categories.Anna Karenina which has been mostly shut out in many Oscar precursors, racked up several nominations mostly in the creative categories such as makeup, production design, costume design etc…

The BAFTAs, hosted by Stephen Fry, will take place on Sunday, February 10 at London’s Royal Opera House and be broadcast on BBC One. Check out all the nominees below.

If there is one Oscar precursor that is the most reliable, it’s hands down the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs). The acting guild represents the biggest voting block at the Academy Awards. Bar none when it comes to the acting categories the SAGs have the best record in recent years. If you’re planning to enter your Oscar office pool, I highly recommend you take note of the nominees and winners from this particular group. The SAGs honor outstanding work in both film and television. Since it’s all about the Oscars, I’m only focusing on the movie nominations.

While they don’t have a Best Picture category, they have an Outstanding Performance by a Cast as their big prize. What’s notable with the nominees in this category is the omission ofZero Dark Thirty. Long thought as an Oscar frontrunner for Best Picture, it’s snub have a few pundits scratching their heads. That isn’t the only surprise with the 2013 nominations. Check them all out below with my commentary for all the movie acting categories.

The New York Times have release a new video gallery titled Wide-Awake starring the famous faces that the publication has determined to be the ‘Hollywood Heroines Of 2012“. These are the thirteen actresses whose performances defined the year in film, “discovering powers they never knew they had.”

There are thirteen of these short films/videos (one for each actress) and they all involve some sort of a dream sequence and/or transformation. For example, Anne Hathaway plays a depressed hotel maid who transforms into the beautiful woman she feels she is inside. Rebel Wilson finds herself lying on the ground in the middle of a waterfight, but then makes her way into the water and transforms into a mermaid. The videos are all very cool and very different from one another. Watch them below!

GORGEOUS. That’s all I kept thinking as I looked through Marion Cotillard’s spread in W Magazine. The 37-year-old star is beyond red hot in the editorial. Wearing a black blob, the Rust and Bone actress resembles an edgy sophisticated version of Katy Perry with an S&M twist.

Snapped by photographer Tim Walker, Cotillard poses with a model dressed up as a toy solider in a couple of shots. It’s a creepy interpretation of Babes in Toyland. The shots with hands grabbing her from cloth walls are intoxicating as well. For the accompanying interview, Marion sits down with Lynn Hirschberg and discusses her childhood, acting inspiration and her Oscar experience. Check out several photos and quotes from her W issue below.

On Her Childhood

“I always wanted to express myself by being someone other than myself. I needed to experience the human soul—something more than just my soul. I wasn’t enough! When I was 10 or 11, I played an angry housekeeper in a play at camp. I was yelling at everyone. I remember the feeling I had when it was over. I really loved it.”

It happened, I saw an advance screening of TDKR and I loved it. I’m going to get a few things out of the way right away because everyone is asking me the same questions. Once I get that out of the way I’m going to give you the juice. I will try to keep this as spoiler free as I can as well.

Is TDKR rises better than The Dark Knight? No.

Is TDKR better than Avengers? Yes.

Is Anne Hathaway the best Catwoman? On par with Michelle.

Is Bane better than the Joker? They are completely different.

Is this the best Batman movie? No.

Is this the best movie this summer? Yes.

So I got that out of the way, now I’m going to elaborate on this brilliant piece of cinema. First of all this is notThe Dark Knight. It’s not even CLOSE to TDK, and if you go into this movie constantly comparing it to TDK you will not enjoy it I promise you that. Do you remember in Scream 3 when Randy gave the rules of the trilogy? Something from past is gonna come bite you in that ass, the body count is WAY bigger etc. etc., all of that applies to this trilogy perfectly.

Although this “outbreak” story has been told in different ways many times before, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing this. The film is called Contagion, which by definition means “disease transmission by direct or indirect contact.” Here’s the plot: “Following the uncontrollable spread of a lethal airborne virus, the movie revolves around the attempt to slow the pandemic and the increasing panic raging through society.” For me, this is the type of storyline that doesn’t get old, because it could totally happen – and that makes it scary. The same goes for the countless movies about “end of the world” catastrophic events or scary tales of paranormal activity. I’ll always watch them.

If the plot isn’t reason enough to get you to want to watch this, surely the director and the cast might be. This Steven Soderbergh-directed film stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne and many other A-list actors.

The film hits theatres September 9th. I wonder if this trailer will go “viral”? Haha, that was bad. Do your first diagnosis on the film by checking out the trailer below.